Friday, November 28, 2003
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Friday, November 28, 2003 |
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Post 1 winner Rutherford: 'It's time to move forward' By J. FRANK LUNCH Judi-ann Rutherford easily won Tuesday’s runoff election for the Post 1 Peachtree City Council seat, beating opponent Lee Poolman by nearly 3-1 in a nonpartisian race that some said came down to choosing which candidate had the lesser conflict if elected. Just 9.7 percent of Peachtree City’s 19,071 registered voters bothered to cast a ballot in the runoff, which fell during a holiday week when local schools were closed and many families were out of town. Tuesday morning’s weather, the coldest so far this season, didn’t help matters either. Rutherford drew 1,179 votes or 64 percent, while Poolman took 657 votes for 36 percent. The total number of votes cast Tuesday was a third of those in the Nov. 4 election, when Rutherford came within 20 votes of winning a majority outright. While Rutherford’s runoff victory margin was far more comfortable, Poolman’s percent of the vote remained the same from each election — about 36 percent, suggesting that Rutherford picked up supporters who voted for the third candidate in the Nov. 4 election, James J. Aducci. “It’s not about the vote,” Rutherford said Tuesday night as her victory party wound down. “It’s about the issues. We need to focus on what we need to do to move forward as a city.” “We’ve had two years of not making any progress in this town; it’s time to make progress,” said Rutherford, who was elected twice to local governing bodies during 20-plus years living in Sanford, Maine, including a term on the local school board. Rutherford’s employment as office manager of the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater had raised questions of conflict of interest, especially as the on-again, off-again drama surrounding the Development Authority of Peachtree CIty and the city’s role in taking back management of that facility and the city tennis center played out. Poolman’s conflict involved his employment as budget systems manager in Fulton County, where Post 3 Councilman Steve Rapson is budget manager, and in effect Poolman’s boss. Even with the election over, Rutherford’s job status remains cloudy. Sunday night, City Council will meet to decide if the city should take on the employees of the two venues as contract workers through mid-January, when the Peachtree City Tourism Association could possibly take over. Rutherford was uncertain what that would mean for her legally, since persons employed directly by the city cannot serve on City Council without resigning. Mayor Steve Brown has proposed the stop-gap measure to maintain the employees into 2004. “If they can meet this Sunday night and get it moving, Steve Brown is showing real leadership,” said Rutherford, who added that she intends to play no sides on a council that historically has been divided on nearly every huge issue effecting the city. Rutherford, who replaces the retiring Annie McMenamin, and Post 2 Councilman-elect Stuart Kourajian, who defeated incumbent Dan Tennant on Nov. 4, will be sworn into office Jan. 8, the first meeting of the new year.
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